Eaton
It was no surprise that the course had to be closed on Friday morning, following 20 mm of rain overnight, preceded by 8 mm on Wednesday. There were no puddles on the greens following the vertidraining at the start of the week, but there was a fair bit of casual water on the fairways, conspicuously down the 14th fairway. Our neighbours, including Bromborough and Sandiway, were similarly affected.
As mentioned, the greens were all vertidrained at the start of the week. The machine then moved on to the tees and is now part-way through the greens approaches. Gavin reports that the steel pins, which started off around 10” long, have been worn down to 8” after the greens - root zone is 80% sand, and very abrasive. The greens had to be rolled to level them off and enable them to be mown. The tees on the short holes were dressed again - they suffered quite a hammering during the summer with several major events on the course.
Gavin used Friday’s down time to set up the trencher; he is planning to tackle the wet area down the left of 9 this week, taking advantage of the forecast dry spell. Whilst the machine is mounted, he will then move on to the planned irrigation in front of the ditch on 12 and on the area between the brook and the 15th green.
The Board has generously approved our request for a (second-hand) electric utility vehicle. At the moment we lack runabout capacity for the lads getting about the course. It will also be invaluable as a silent tow for the equally silent Turf Iron, enabling early course readiness on competition mornings.
Course Committee
!5 October 2023